China’s manufacturing performance from a multilateral perspective: 1980-2004

Abstract

This paper examines international competitiveness of China s manufacturing industry during the period of 1980-2004 from a multilateral perspective in terms of purchasing power parities, relative price levels, labor productivity and unit labor costs. The various measures of PPPs in China s manufacturing industry are found to be approximately 3.7 RMB per international dollar in the base year 1997. Since the mid-1980s, the relative price of China s manufacturing products has been declined and is the lowest compared with the US, UK, Germany, Japan and South Korea. The unit labor cost is found to show a declining trend with some fluctuation. The labor productivity of China s manufacturing industry is relatively low and is found to converge with other countries since 1992.